2017 News Releases

TOPEKA – (February 1, 2017) – Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt today urged members of the United States Senate to confirm Neil Gorsuch as an associate justice on the United States Supreme Court.

Schmidt, along with 19 other state attorneys general, wrote to Senate leaders and the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee asking them “to promptly hold a hearing on and confirm the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court of the United States.”

The attorneys general emphasized that Judge Gorsuch’s confirmation would positively impact their efforts in support of returning authority to the states.

“Over the past eight years, the people have suffered from the massive federal overreach in Washington, D.C. as all three branches of government have at times exceeded the limits placed on their authority under the Constitution,” the attorneys general wrote. “In particular, the executive branch has placed onerous and unlawful regulatory burdens on consumers, employees, investors, and businesses. Judge Gorsuch will help reverse that trend by ensuring that the legislative and executive branches, whether controlled by either party, act within their constitutionally assigned roles.”

The attorneys general also noted Judge Gorsuch was confirmed by the Senate to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals – which includes Kansas – by a unanimous “voice vote” in 2006. Schmidt observed that the Kansas attorney general’s office frequently has practiced before Judge Gorsuch on the 10th Circuit.

“We know him as a solid, capable jurist,” Schmidt added. “It will be good for Kansas and the Midwest to have a voice from the central part of the country on the U.S. Supreme Court.”

Along with Attorney General Schmidt, the letter was signed by the attorneys general of Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.